Facilities on the new Multimedia Machine

• Resources
• Using Removeable Magnetic Media (floppy, Zip, Jaz)
• `Burning' DVD-R/RW or CD-R/RW media
• Frequently asked questions
• Scanning

Resources

We have retasked a machine to be the new multimedia machine. It includes these resources:

• 1 GB Jaz removable storage drive
• 250 MB Zip removable storage drive
• DVD-RW drive
• Scanner

The Jaz drive supports 1GB capacity media; the Zip drive supports both 250MB and 100MBb capacity. Users (or research budgets) will have to provide their own media.

The DVD-RW drive supports the following write operations:

Using Removeable Magnetic Media (floppy, Zip, Jaz)

When using any disks on Unix systems, you need to mount disks before using them, and unmount them when you are finished.

If you have your own magnetic media, you may mount them as a user with the mount command. An example of mounting the Zip disk is:

    mount /mnt/zip250.0           

Mounting a Jaz disk:

    mount /mnt/jaz1g.0

Mounting a floppy disk:

    mount /mnt/floppy

Mounting a CDROM:

    mount /mnt/cdrom0

The first argument to the mount command is the path in the filesystem to the magnetic media.

`Burning' DVD-R/RW or CD-R/RW media

In this section, we talk about the steps necessary to actually generate an ISO image (data CD or data DVD) and the nuances associated with writing each type of media.

We do not cover the reading and writing of audio or video CDs or video DVDs. Users interested in making multimode CDs or audio CDs are directed to the man pages for programs such as cdparanoia, cdrecord, cdrdao. This list is not meant to be comprehensive but a starting point for interested users.

Prerequisites

• You must have an account on the ISRL systems. If you do not have access to the ISRL, talk to your advisor or send mail to isrl-support.
• You need your own blank writable media (or erasable media whose contents you are not interested in keeping). We presently have no support for packet writing under Linux, so all operations using the supplied tools assume blank media.
• Compatible media includes CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, and DVD-RW.
• Note that DVD-RAM, DVD+R and DVD+RW is not supported.

Setting things up

• Create a directory in which you will place the files that you wish to back up. Let us call this directory name /space/myLogin/Data. [Refer to the Frequently asked questions section on where to place your files on the local machine]
• Copy your files into the directory /space/myLogin/Data.
• run the mkisofs command to make the ISO9660 (CD) image that you will later write to the CD or DVD. Make sure that the path that you specify for the ISO image does not fall under /space/myLogin/Data (you might put it in /space/myLogin/isoImages).

      mkisofs -J -r /space/myLogin/Data > /path/to/yourCDimage.iso
      

Experience Gained/Things to Remember

• You have to blank previously used CD-RW media. There are several options to do this--refer to the man page for cdrecord
• For 74 minute media rated at 4X writing, you should expect a blanking time of 74/4 minutes (for the blank=all option).
• The minimum write speed for the drive is 4X, which means that your media has to support (at a minumum) being written at 4X. The staff has successfully written at 8X to 10X rated CDRW media.
• There have been some bad experiences with Memorex 1-4X media on both this modern drive and the first generation CDRW drive previously installed. It would serve the ISRL community to report media that has presented problems to isrl-support@isrl.uiuc.edu
• The media manufacturers that we have made note of working are:
  • [CDRW 10X] Lead Data Inc.

Writing to media

There are various options for writing out to media. You should select the appropriate selection based on what media you are using. Note that the cdrecord prorgram sometimes needs to reload the media, so do not be alarmed if the CD tray goes in and out before the actual burn starts.

The commands as we have given them below will eject the media after it has been written.

• Write a CD-R

  • If your media does not support being written at 16x, then you might need to specify a lower speed as an argument. The drive should properly detect slower media, but it may not.

    
        cdrecord -v -eject /path/to/yourCDimage.iso
        

    or, if your media is too slow and the drive did not detect this, use a command like this:

    
        cdrecord -v -eject -speed=4 /path/to/yourCDimage.iso
        

• Write a CD-RW

  • This is just about the same as writing a CD-R except that if the media has been previously written to, you will have to blank it first. There are a few options for this (refer to the man page for the complete story), but for data CDs the most common options will be "fast" or "all".

    
        cdrecord -v blank=all
        

    Note that using the fast option does not blank the previous data from the CD-RW, but just the directory information. Using the fast option does not preclude an interested party from obtaining older data that may not be overwritten. The "all" option is slower but more secure. It is the recommmendation of the ISRL staff that for people intending to use re-writable media as archival media that they use the "all" option.

    Once you have a blank CD-RW, follow the instructions for a CD-R above.

• Write a DVD-R

  • Run the command to actually write the DVD. The dvdrecord program will eject the DVD when it is done. DVD media should auto-detect the proper speed.

    
        dvdrecord -v -eject /path/to/yourDVDimage.iso
        

• Write a DVD-RW

  • Just as with CD-RW, the first step is to blank the media, then follow the DVD-R instructions above. See the section on writing a CD-RW for issues with blanking RW media (above).

    
        dvdrecord -v blank=fast -eject
        

• Write a DVD+R

  • Only DVD-R general media is supported. DVD+R authoring media cannot be burned in the ISRL burner. Prerecorded disks should be readable, however.

• Write a DVD+RW

  • Only DVD-RW general media is supported. DVD+RW authoring media cannot be burned in the ISRL burner. Prerecorded disks should be readable, however.

Making more complex CDs or DVDs

The inclined user is encouraged to read the manual pages for the mkisofs, cdparanoia, cdrdao, and cdrecord commands to learn more about how one can potentially make more interesting variants of CDs or DVDs. When using cdrdao, the proper device to use is /dev/sg2.

CD/DVD Frequently asked questions

Where's a good place to put my ISO image file?

On the new CD Writing machine, there should be ample space in the /space directory. Be sure to look for a README file in that directory and follow any directions in that file.

Can I get a copy of the latest RedHat version?

RedHat (as well as other Linux distributions) now distribute iso images so that people may easily make CDs of them. Download the ISO image that you want to write to a CD, and then use the cdrecord command above.

How do I make a copy of an audio CD?

This will (eventually) be covered in another document. It is likely that you do not have permissions to copy an audio CD anyway, and you shouldn't use ISRL systems for illegal purposes.

Does ISRL provide blank CDR like they do blank paper?

Unfortunately, we cannot provide blank media--our budget is severly constrained.

Can I buy a blank CDR from ISRL?

We are not set up to do this, and the overhead to do this would probably make the cost per disk ridiculous. Buy a spindle and share them with your friends :)

How much data can a CD or DVD hold?

A standard CDR can hold between 640 and 700Mb. Most CDR/CDRW media is marked with its capacity. DVD-R/RW media hold about 4.7Gb (note that,s 4,700,000,000, not 4.7x1024x1024x1024). Unless you wish to risk making a disk that doesn't work, you might try to experiment as to just how much data you can write to the disk.

What media can I use?

You can use 3 inch or 5 inch CD-R, CD-RW, 3.8 or 4.7G DVD-R and DVD-RW media. The hardware does not support other DVD variants, including DVD+R, DVD+RW, and various DVD-RAM types.

Scanning

Here are some step-by-step instructions for scanning in an image.

• Start xsane. It will either be available through the foot menu in Gnome, the gear menu in KDE, or just type xsane on the command line.
• After the xsane window appears, click OK. The scanner can be accessed two ways, so the choice of scanner is not real. Four new windows appear, a color correction window, a UMAX options window, a controls window and a preview window.
• Place what you want to scan on the scanner bed. Click on "Acquire Preview" in the preview window.
• Using the mouse, outline the part of the image you wish to scan.
• Under XSane mode, select "Save"
• Select the proper DPI, brightness, contrast, and gamma. There are four sliders that let you adjust the color. Play around to get the best image. For DPI, you'll have to experiment to find the best tradeoff between resolution and file size for your purpose. Use at least 250x250DPI if you plan on running any OCR software.
• Type a filename using the extension for file type. For most things, .jpg is appropriate. For special situations where jpeg compression is not appropriate, use a different extension.
• Click the start button once the settings are the way you want them.
• Remove the original material from the scanner.